Ipswich Town v Birmingham City Betting Tips: Tense affair at Portman Road

Although it is generally hard to forecast results in the first round of league fixtures, this affair between Ipswich and Birmingham seems to be one of the more predictable affairs of the weekend.

Ipswich have had an interesting preseason with relatively few signings (only Tom Adeyemi costing a fee) whilst their 6-1 loss to Charlton Athletic in their last friendly was widely publicised and heavily criticised by manager Mick McCarthy. A lot of Ipswich fans are still against their manager so a good start to the season is vital for McCarthy in order to keep the pressure off himself.

The Tractor Boys had a poor second half to last season with just three league wins since 11^th Februrary whilst they also lost each of their final three outings. McCarthy is known as a manager who prioritises defensive solidity over attacking flair. However, they found the completely wrong balance at the end of the 2016/17 campaign with no goals scored and five conceded. Furthermore, they have lost creative talisman Tom Lawrence who was so inspirational for them last season on loan from Leicester. Overall, this does not bode well for this term.

Despite the fact that Ipswich suffered defeat in their final home match of the season, they had actually been decent record at Portman Road prior to that with no losses in the preceding seven games, including a victory against eventual champions Newcastle United.

Much has been made of Harry Redknapp’s arrival at Birmingham with many fans expecting some good quality and perhaps even marquee signings from the man who saved the club from relegation in the last three games of the 2016/17 campaign. However, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager has been left frustrated in the transfer market with just three permanent signings made so far.

Two of those signings have been to reinforce the backline with defender Marc Roberts arriving from Barnsley along with Brighton goalkeeper David Stockdale who was voted the best ‘keeper in the division last season. Additionally, Cheikh N’Doye has been brought in to add more steel to the midfield. However, Blues have historically struggled in the final third and they have so far failed to sign a striker. Going into this game, Redknapp only has two strikers available to him as Lukasz Jutkewiecz will miss out through injury.

Birmingham’s last competitive away trip saw them take three points at Bristol City in a match that saw them ensure their survival in the Championship, keeping a clean sheet in the process. Prior to that victory, Blues had won just once on their travels in the league since 26^th November 2016. However, it must be pointed out that most of those matches were during the disastrous reign of Gianfranco Zola. Life should be different under Redknapp.

Neither of these sides pose much of a goal threat which is likely to be both teams’ downfall this season. With this in mind, and the pressure on the teams to get a positive result in the first outing, I think this will be fairly close and so am going for Under 1.5 Goals Total at 43/20.